Today is the birthday (1588) of Isaac Beeckman, a Dutch natural philosopher who is rarely spoken of today, but in his time was well respected, and was a leading figure in the development of many modern scientific theories, especially atomism.

Beeckman was born in Middelburg, Zeeland, to a strong Calvinistic family, which had fled from the Spanish-controlled Southern Netherlands a few years before. He had his early education in his home town and went on to study theology, literature and mathematics in Leiden. Upon his return to Middelburg he could not find a position as a minister, due to his father’s clashes with the local church, and decided to follow his father in the candle-making business, setting up his own company in Zierikzee. While trying to improve on the candle making process, he also involved himself in other projects, like creating water conduits and doing meteorological observations. In 1616 he sold the business to his apprentice and went to study medicine in Caen, where he graduated in 1618. On his return, he became an assistant rector in Utrecht. On April 1620 he married Cateline de Cerf, whom he knew from Middelburg, and with whom he would have seven children. From 1620 to 1627 he taught at the Latin school in Rotterdam, where he founded a “Collegium Mechanicum”, or Technical College. From 1627 until his death at the age of 48 he was rector of the Latin school in Dordrecht.

Rene Descartes and Isaac Beeckman.

Beeckman’s most influential teachers in Leiden probably were Snellius and Simon Stevin. He himself was a teacher to Johan de Witt and a teacher and friend of René Descartes. Beeckman had met the young Descartes in November 1618 in Breda, where Beeckman then lived and Descartes was then garrisoned as a soldier. It is said that they met when both were looking at a placard that was set up in the Breda marketplace, detailing a mathematical problem to be solved. Descartes asked Beeckman to translate the problem from Dutch to French. In their following meetings Beeckman interested Descartes in his corpuscularian approach to mechanical theory, and convinced him to devote his studies to a mathematical approach to nature. In 1619, Descartes dedicated one of his first tractati to him, the Compendium Musicae. When Descartes returned to the Dutch Republic in the autumn of 1628, Beeckman also introduced him to many of Galileo’s ideas. In 1629 they fell out over a dispute concerning whether Beeckman had helped Descartes with some of his mathematical discoveries. In October 1630, Descartes wrote a long and harshly abusive letter, apparently meant to crush Beeckman psychologically, in which he declared himself never to have been influenced by Beeckman. Despite a few other such fallings-outs, they remained in contact until Beeckman’s death in 1637.

Beeckman did not publish his ideas, but he had influenced many scientists of his time. Since the beginning of his studies he did keep an extensive journal, from which his brother published some of his observations in 1644. However, this went basically unnoticed. The scope of Beeckman’s ideas did not come to light until the science historian Cornelis de Waard rediscovered the Journaal in 1905, and published it in volumes between 1939 and 1953.

The following are key points in the Journaal:

Beeckman developed, independently of Sebastian Basso, the concept that matter is composed of atoms.

Beeckman is one of the first people to describe inertia correctly, although he also assumed that a constant circular velocity is conserved.

Beeckman showed that the fundamental frequency of a vibrating string is proportional to the reciprocal of the length of the string.

In the analysis of the functioning of a pump he theorized correctly that air pressure is the cause and not the then popular theory of horror vacui (“nature abhors a vacuum”

In his time, he was considered to be one of the most educated men in Europe. For example, he had deeply impressed French polymath Marin Mersenne, despite their opposing religious views, as well as astronomer and mathematician, Pierre Gassendi, who apparently had been introduced by Beeckman to the philosophy of Epicurus and atomism. Gassendi stated in a 1629 letter that Beeckman was the greatest philosopher he had ever met.

Here is a 16th century Dutch recipe for gooseberry omelet taken from Seer excellenten gheexperimenteerden nieuwen Coc-boeck (The very excellent and tried new cookbook) by Karel Baten (Carolus Battus) published in 1593:

To bake an omelette of gooseberries.
Take fresh butter and melt it in a pan. Add gooseberries so that they are almost two fingers high and let them simmer in the butter until they have lost their color. Then beat 7, 8 or 9 eggs with a little ginger and rosewater. Pour this mixture over the gooseberries, and let it bake over a coal fire without burning. When the omelet is done, let it glide from the pan on to a dish without breaking. Then sprinkle sugar and cinnamon on it and serve.

Author

My name is Juan Alejandro Forrest de Sloper. Daily I post an anniversary with a suitable recipe du jour. Although the anniversary material is often really prominent, try to remember that, first and foremost, this is a FOOD BLOG.

Please note that if you are more comfortable in a language other than English there is a Google translate app in this sidebar.

[Photo: Denise Yanko]

Recent Posts

Featured Posts (Click title to view)

Prior to Thomas Becket’s rise to fame, Dunstan was the most celebrated saint in England. Dunstan was born in Baltonsborough, Somerset. He was the son of Heorstan, a noble of Wessex. Heorstan was the brother of Athelm, the bishop of Wells and Winchester. The anonymous author of the earliest Life places Dunstan’s birth during the […]

Six years ago today I started this blog, so it’s time once again to wish it a Happy Birthday. I may bake a cake (and I have candles). In years past I have posted all manner of things on this anniversary, but this year I am going to make a simple announcement. I’m giving up […]

Today is the feast day of two saints named Beatus: Beatus of Vendôme and Beatus of Lungern who might be the same person, neither of whom may have existed at all. Their stories are fragmentary, overlapping, and mostly hard to believe. Tomorrow is the 6th birthday of this blog and after that I am going […]

Today is the birthday of actor Sid James (1913) who was born Solomon Joel Cohen in South Africa, later changing his name to Sidney Joel Cohen, and then Sidney James. His family lived on Hancock Street in Hillbrow, Johannesburg. Upon moving to the UK later in life, he claimed various previous occupations, including diamond cutter, […]

Today is a rather odd coincidence day, the birthday, one year apart, of two Scottish philosophers, Thomas Reid (1710) and David Hume (1711). In his day, Reid was perhaps the more influential, but nowadays Hume has the upper hand, although both have been superseded. I’ll give you a small taste of their ideas, and of […]

The Christmas Truce was a series of widespread, unofficial ceasefires that took place along the Western Front around Christmas 1914, during World War I. Through the week leading up to Christmas, parties of German and British soldiers began to exchange seasonal greetings and songs between their trenches; on occasion, the tension was reduced to the […]

Today is the birthday (1915) of Édith Piaf, famed French singer who became a national icon in France, and still has an ardent following worldwide (myself included). I decided to start the post with a recording of one her most famous songs, rather than the usual portrait or icon, so that you could see her […]

Today is the anniversary (1903) of the the Wright brothers, Orville (August 19, 1871 – January 30, 1948) and Wilbur (April 16, 1867 – May 30, 1912), making the first controlled, powered and sustained heavier-than-air human flight. From 1905 to 1907, the brothers developed their flying machine into the first practical fixed-wing aircraft. Although not […]

Supposedly on this date in 1307 William Tell shot an arrow into an apple on his son’s head. The legend as told by Tschudi (ca. 1570) reports that William Tell, who originally came from Bürglen, was known as a strong man, mountain climber, and an expert shot with the crossbow. In his time, the Habsburg […]

On this date in 1602 the Bodleian Library, Oxford University’s main library, opened for use. It has been in continuous service ever since, growing considerably over the years (now holding an estimated 11 million books). It was where I studied and did research as an undergraduate, and I still occasionally visit when I need to […]

Today is the feast day of St Francis of Assisi, without doubt one of the best known and best loved saints of all time. He is probably most frequently remembered as a lover of animals, and because he is the patron saint of animals, his feast day was chosen in 1931 as World Animal Day, […]

Today is Michaelmas, or, more formally, the Feast of St Michael and All Angels. In times past it was a very important day in the calendar marking the beginning of autumn (in the northern hemisphere), the end of the summer harvests, and, therefore a time for reckoning up – farm laborers got paid, as did […]

Today is the birthday (1774) of John Chapman, generally known as Johnny Appleseed, Swedenborgian Christian missionary, early conservationist, and folk hero. Chapman was known as Johnny Appleseed because of his large number of fruit tree plantings. He is regarded informally as the patron saint of orchardists in the U.S.A., and today is commonly celebrated as […]

On this date in 1835, HMS Beagle, with Charles Darwin aboard, reached the Galápagos Islands. The ship landed at Chatham, or San Cristobal, the easternmost island of the archipelago. His visit to the Galápagos Islands is justly famous because of the observations he made there that helped him develop the general principles of natural selection. […]

Today is International Chocolate Day. Well, actually, there are several dates that lay claim to this distinction, but I have chosen this one because it’s a slow day in the anniversary world. I could give you a whole song and dance about the history of chocolate, but I’m not going to. Instead I am going […]

Today is the birthday (1931) of Roger Penrose, mathematician, philosopher, and artist. I am a big fan. Some of you who read this blog regularly may wonder why I admire so many mathematicians; maybe this post will solve that puzzle. Penrose was born in Colchester on the east coast of England, and is the brother […]

On this date in 1964 the oldest known unitary organism, Prometheus, a Great Basin Bristlecone Pine (Pinus longaeva) tree growing near the tree line on Wheeler Peak in eastern Nevada was cut down by a graduate student and United States Forest Service personnel for research purposes. The tree was at least 4862 years old […]

In Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet there is this line: “Come Lammas-eve at night shall she be fourteen” (Act 1 sc iii) Lammas is August 1, so today (Lammas Eve) is Juliet’s birthday. Romeo and Juliet was one of Shakespeare’s earliest plays (written some time between 1591 and 1595). It was a popular audience pleaser throughout […]

Today is Independence Day in Vanuatu, officially the Republic of Vanuatu (Ripablik blong Vanuatu), an island nation located in the South Pacific Ocean. Vanuatu was first inhabited by Melanesian people. The first Europeans to visit the islands were the members of a Spanish expedition led by Portuguese navigator Fernandes de Queirós, who arrived in 1605. […]

Today is the feast day of Martha of Bethany, as well as of her brother Lazarus of Bethany. I am going to focus on Martha today. Next year on this date, Deo volente, I’ll give you the story of Lazarus. Martha appears in three well known stories, one in Luke’s gospel and two in John’s. […]

Subscribe to this Blog via Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email. Your email information is completely private. Not only do I not use your email for any other purposes, I cannot even see it, and there is no list of addresses that is accessible to me.